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Archiver > GENEALOGY-DNA > 2012-03 > 1332530658


From: (John Chandler)
Subject: Re: [DNA] Phasing 4th Cousins
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2012 15:24:18 -0400
References: <10232749.950605.1332454101434.JavaMail.root@vznit170064>
In-Reply-To: <10232749.950605.1332454101434.JavaMail.root@vznit170064>(message from Jim Bartlett on Thu, 22 Mar 2012 17:08:21 -0500 (CDT))


Jim wrote:
> John - I might not have worded my statement properly. When I spoke of "each
> of our ancestors" I was thinking of each of them as a single individual.

Yes, and I pointed out that you were making a mistake in doing so.
Our ancestors come in pairs, not just in pedigree charts, but in terms
of their DNA passed on to us. There are, of course, some exceptions,
as when an ancestor appears with different spouses in multiple
pedigree slots.

> As I think about your statement, I can see four quilts in our Common
> Ancestors (two quilts for the husband and two quilts for the wife), and of
> course we don't know which of these quilts provided the IBD segment that
> came down to me and my atMatch. But I'm not trying to determine my
> ancestor's quilts; I'm trying to determine my own!

Please note that this thread started with, and has continued until now
to be about, determining the DNA of one pair of progenitors by
examining the DNA of many descendants. You have illustrated the big
divide in conventional genealogy between the pedigree-based and
descendancy-based forms. The former is the province of solo
researchers while the latter tends toward collective work. The advent
of autosomal scans has produced the same dichotomy in genetic
genealogy (where Y DNA was strongly tilted toward the
descendancy-based collective projects).

John Chandler

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